Film

Which Way Is Up?

Name: Which Way Is Up?
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1977
Cast: Richard Pryor, Lonette McKee, Margaret Avery, Morgan Woodward, Marilyn Coleman

Comedy

Richard Pryor plays three characters in this 1977 comedy about an orange picker caught between union organizing, family obligation, and desire. Raucous and loosely constructed, it's Pryor doing what he did best: finding humanity and hilarity in contradiction. Uneven but alive, and most alive when Pryor is riffing. For anyone who loves him at his most uninhibited.

TMDb rating

2.9

If you liked this

Life of Brian1979

Monty Python's absurdist take on blind devotion and mistaken messiahs. Sharp, fearless, and genuinely funny about how we follow leaders we don't understand—a spiritual cousin to the union-organizer comedy here.

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Uptown Saturday Night1974

Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby in a heist-comedy set in Black nightlife, with ensemble energy and the kind of loose, character-driven humor that Pryor excels in. Warm without being sentimental.

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Car Wash1976

A genuinely ensemble film about working people making it through the day with humor and dignity. Features Joel Schumacher's chaotic directing and a cast that includes Richard Pryor in a smaller role, finding comedy in small moments.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Which Way Is Up?

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Killer of Sheep1978

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The Jerk1979

Steve Martin's innocent naif surrounded by family chaos and the indifferent world. Physical comedy meets character study; Martin brings both warmth and deadpan observation to a man learning he doesn't belong anywhere.

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Clerks1994

Kevin Smith's two-hander set in a convenience store. No budget, all dialogue and character; pure riffing about work, sex, and the people who drift through your life. Comedy that grows from observation rather than setup.

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Trading Places1983

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in John Landis's social comedy with real satirical bite underneath the heist plot. Murphy's energy is irrepressible and Aykroyd anchors him; it's funny and surprisingly smart about class.

But Some of the humor has aged poorly; a few sequences feel dated in ways that distract rather than amuse.

Coming to America1988

Murphy at peak charm, playing against type as an innocent. Eddie Hall and James Earl Jones provide foil and warmth; it's a silly, generous film about someone trying to find love without cynicism.

But The plot is gossamer-thin and the film relies entirely on Murphy's likability; if that doesn't work for you, nothing will.

Dolemite1975

Rudy Ray Moore as a pimp-turned-vigilante in this gloriously incompetent blaxploitation film. Shot with almost no money, it's so earnest and unaware that it becomes transcendent—pure energy over craft.

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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner1967

Both films stake everything on a Black man's dignity and right to choose his own life. Poitier does it through eloquence and restraint; Pryor does it through chaos and sex and comedy. Same argument, opposite tools.

Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn in Stanley Kramer's straightforward drama about an interracial couple meeting their parents. It's earnest where *Which Way* is chaotic; it argues for change through reason rather than riff.

But Preachy and theatrical; the dialogue explains everything and trusts the viewer not at all. Can feel more like a civics lesson than a film.

Possession1981

Both films are about marriages dissolving under the weight of who we actually are versus who we promised to be. One is comedy, one is tragedy, but the betrayal and thwarted desire live in the same place.

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But Extremely graphic violence and sexual content; the tone is unrelentingly bleak and the pacing deliberate. Easy to find it punishing rather than profound.